Capturing high quality Point Of View (POV) camera footage of action sports can be done by mounting a sports camera onto a participant's body armor, such as a chest protector or roost deflector in the sport of motocross. In fact, the mounting of a POV camera high on the chest area of the user allows for a more realistic, first-person perspective and therefore higher value footage than mounting the camera, for instance, on the side or the top of the user's helmet. However, there are many challenges in creating an apparatus for properly mounting a camera onto a user's protective body armor for action sports.
For instance, due to the nature of many of these action sports, the camera and mount are subjected to high-intensity vibrations and occasional impacts. From these occurrences, if the mounting apparatus is not robust, dislodgement of the camera mount and, or camera from the body armor can result, causing the subsequent loss of or damage to the camera.
Besides having to be robust, it is advantageous for the mounting apparatus to be removable and easy to install. Many users do not want to permanently modify or add semi-permanent additions, such as pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) tape mounted components, to their expensive personal equipment. This is more so for an apparatus that may not be used all the time. Also, a user might want the ability to mount the camera not only on the front of the body armor, but also the back of the body armor for a completely different camera angle and footage. Moreover, having a camera mounting apparatus that can be easily removed and re-installed without tools or consumables, allows for quick and easy transfer between users. This is of value for participants of activities such as off-road motorcycle trail riding.
Additionally, body armor, such as off-road motorcycle and ATV chest protectors, exists in many form-factors of great variation. This makes the task of convenient, secure, but temporary, universal mounting even more difficult.
What is needed is a camera mounting apparatus that addresses all of these challenges.